


Mercy

by MoonlitHowls (Kialish)



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Dwights First Trial, Gen, Kinda, One Shot, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-28
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2019-07-18 19:45:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16125437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kialish/pseuds/MoonlitHowls
Summary: The Wraith is one of the more efficient hunter and trackers at the beck and call of the Entity. Cold and heartless as the Killer is, even he isn't immune to bouts of pity. Finding the Locker Rat on his first trial, he finds a curious stirring of mercy, emotions long forgotten.





	Mercy

In this world created by the Entity, not many monsters maintained their empathy. The Wraith was, for the most part, no different. As in his previous life, he was fulfilling the role of executioner, though the terms were clear this time. No hiding the obvious behind a more kindly appearing job, no sir. His job was to please the Entity and hunt down the prey it brought him, regardless of how he felt about said prey. The creature once known as Philip chose not to see the survivors as people, rather as animals. Ignoring their squeals of pain like they were little more than pigs to be hooked and butchered. It made things… Easier.

Mostly.

This trial had been similar to the others, a quartet of people let loose into an abominable, malformed version of the wreckers yard he once worked in to try and escape the monster and the monster to sacrifice them to the entity. Three had been taken down in haste, their altruism their downfall. One would come to save another, and soon they all had succumbed to the hook. To their inevitable fate. But there was still one out there, one animal left to cull.

No doubt the hatch would be opened by now, Philip was sure of it. The final survivor would have fled and taken a chance to find the singing doorway, but he still had a chance to stop him. The gong of his bell rang out as the Wraith cloaked himself in invisibility and began to race around the small and enclosed map. 

Night friendly eyes scoured the ground, looking for traces of blood or hasty retreats. He had managed to get a swing on the survivor earlier, and no one had fixed his injuries before they had died leaving him vulnerable. Blood was easy to track, yet the Wraith saw none. He cocked his head and stood still, becoming entirely invisible and listening for the call of crows or wheezing of pained breaths. Still nothing, not here.

Onward he searched, glancing at active generators and searching around them in case the fool was trying to fix more and power an exit gate. He even found the escape hatch before he found the final survivor, its bottom seemingly endless and gaping black. The creature felt his brows crease slightly, confused at the seeming disappearance. The Entity would have taken him back to the his domain were he finished, or put him in another trial against new survivors. No, he wasn’t done. There was still one here, he just needed to find him.

It took him a great deal of time as he ghosted over the map once more, double and triple checking behind him and around tree trunks to make sure he wasn’t being made a fool of. Some survivors got cocky, repeating trials enough to get the upper hand, to live.

Finally, the Wraith descended down to the basement, the wood creaking with the essence of the entity as its four hooks gleamed in the eerie reddish light that came from nowhere at all. A sound caused him to tilt his head again. A soft wheeze and groan. Had the survivor been down here all along?

White eyes scanned over the basement, poking into the odd corners and finding no one. Then he saw it, blood trailing out of the base of a locker. The Wraith clanged on his bell, hearing the sudden gasp of breath as the lockers inhabitant realized he had been found. He opened the door and found the survivor crouching tightly in on himself, blood seeping from a gash in his stomach. The man looked up with frightened, dark eyes, his pulse racing so loudly the wraith could hear it clearly.

For a moment, they stared at one another, the bespectacled man waiting as if being still would make him as invisible as the Wraith once cloaked. He had hid here while his friends succumbed, was probably waiting for the Wraith to give up before he made an attempt at the hatch. The Wraith had recalled this one to scurry, not as fast as the one girl, but with a will to survive with whatever means necessary. Like a rat. Yes, a rat, that's all this one was with his fearful eyes crouching in the bottom of a locker.

The wraith raised his skull headed mace, the bones clattering at the action, and threatened to swing down on the man.

“No! P-please!” The rat spoke. Most of the survivors gave up trying to talk to the killers, learning quickly it was fruitless. Perhaps this was out of instinct, fear. Hope? Possibly. The entity would like that. 

Phillip stood there, arm raised over his head to deliver the downing blow, waiting for more words to spill from the rats lips. None came, not verbally. His eyes spoke more than anything. Begging, desiring to live. The poor thing didn’t even know, did he? That all of this was nothing more than a game for the higher power that had dragged them both here? That there was no life or death in this world, simply repetition. Success, and failure, yes. But no life and no death. Whether you left the trail by sacrifice or by escape, you ended up the same place…

The mace came down, rattling against the frame of the locker where it struck. The survivor yelped and flinched at the sound, but opened his eyes when he realized he hadn’t been the thing getting struck. He looked up at the wraith with confused and hopeful eyes.  _ Hopeful _ . Yes, this one was particularly new here. Mercy wouldn’t come to him much, and Philip shouldn’t bother sugarcoating the experience for him…

But something inside of him tugged him to spare some emotion. Some semblance of empathy, the feeling he had within him when he was still Philip Ojomo, and not this monster. He could practically feel the entities future distaste if he actually helped this one ‘escape’. Though, the wraith had successfully hunted down the other three. He would be spared the worst of the entities displeasure…

Without wasting another moment, Phillip reached down and pulled the young man out of the locker. The other gave some resistance and voiced hesitance, but he didn’t have much of a choice in this as he was slung over the wraiths shoulder. He could feel the survivor struggle against his grip, feel the racing of his heart as they grew close to the quartet of hooks in the center of the basement… And felt him stop suddenly as the Wraith walked right by them. The confusion was palpable, the survivor not struggling anymore as they walked out of the basement and into the open air. 

Crows cawed unhappily as the Wraith took his final survivor and walked past them, their feathers bristling and beady eyes watching. Philip ignored them, hearing the soft hum of the escape hatch. The Wraith dropped the survivor unceremoniously by the edge of the hatch, looking at the man expectantly.

He peered down into the blackness, nudging his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he laid on the dirt.

“You… You’re letting me go?” He asked, a waiver of uncertainty in his voice. The Wraith tilted his head, then nodded unblinkingly. The man visibly lost tension, exhaling sharply as he pulled himself into the blackness. “Thank you.”

Philip watched the hatch snap shut, a soft growl of curiosity building in the back of his throat. Why had he let him go? He had all rights to sacrifice him. He had let go of his humanity long ago, and yet… That one survivor… The Entity seemed pleased regardless, perhaps not paying mind to the act of mercy, perhaps simply not paying attention. The fog thickened, and the Wraith vanished.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this months ago, debating to pursue it or leave it. For now I've left it. One of my favourite rare pairs, even though it kind of just came out of nowhere without a real reason.


End file.
